Dexter's Gone Fishing! (side quest)

[OGRE MAGE]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter picks up his bowl of stew and joins the fishermen. "Fellas," he says, sitting at the table. "You all did some good work today on the catamaran. Let me pick up supper and a couple rounds, OK?" He pays for everyone's (all the fishermen) supper and drinks, and throws in a couple silver pieces as a tip for Randall.

The half dozen fishermen are thrilled to have their meals and drinks paid for by their new friend, toasting to health and good fortune on the water over and over again.

Randall smiles and sings along to their fishing chantey's, even when he has no idea what any of the lyrics are. Anyone listening closely can hear the barkeeps words trail off after each song, "they're all gonna die."

After several rounds of drinks, the men tell Dexter they better get some rest before what will surely be a long day tomorrow. 5 gold will cover the expenses.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

5 gp's removed

After the dinner, Dexter returns to his shack, stopping along the way to ask one of Glansandi's night watch to help him get up about two and half hours before dawn, and offering two silver pieces for the assistance.

In the morning, he pays the night watch, gets ready with his minimal gear (his most beaten up set of clothes, his trusty coil of rope, his daggers, a day's food, waterskins, and his holy symbol to Brandobaris) and heads for the fishermen's area. "Good morning, fellas!" he says cheerfully. "So, where do you want me?"

[OGRE MAGE]

The night watchman rouses the halfling as specified, allowing him to arrive at the beach in plenty of time to set out with the hardy fishermen. Dexter swats away at a thick cloud of bugs his entire walk to the boats.

Their leader, a tall, thin human named Joe, (yes, another Joe) is monitoring the items being loaded aboard the two newly modified deep sea crafts with a torch in his hand.

"Mornin Dex! Ready to paddle till yer arms fall off?"

This brings a quiet murmur of laughter from the other 6 men who appear to be going along.

"I figured 4 to a boat, switch off rowing, an see how far out we can get before sun-up."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter chuckles ruefully at the joke, and climbs into the catamaran. He lets Joe decide the order for the paddling of course and waits his turn. He watches the other fishermen, seeing what duties are being attended to as the others paddle and offering to help with anything he believes he can help do.

[OGRE MAGE]

Once all the fishing gear and nets are stowed in the boats, the men shove off from shore and begin rowing out to sea.

Joe takes Dexter with him in one of the boats, and tells the men in the other boat to stay close enough for him to hear them paddling before dousing his torch in the sea, leaving them all in total darkness.

The first pair of rowers man the oars, allowing Joe and Dext to discuss their plan of attack.

"So Dex, how much do ye know about fishin in the deeper waters? I see ye brought a pig sticker with ye, just in case?" He points at the dagger on Dex's hip.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Two, actually," Dexter answers, turning his hip to show his second dagger. "And I don't know much about deep sea fishing, but I grew up around boatyards and launch ways, and I know if you have a line around you about to go tight, you better have a sharp knife handy." He hesitates, but then continues, "And Joe, I got a pretty thick skin, so if I am making a mistake, you let me know fast and don't worry about insulting me. Fair enough?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Joe and the others in the boat chuckle for a second

"That's good, Dex. I'll remember that."

"I suppose I could start by saying that yer blade is about three times longer than it needs to be."

All three of the men pull out small but extremely sharp knives that were sheathed under their light clothing. Dex notices how quick and easy it was for them to display their blades.

"Ye got the right ider about it, though. A sharp blade is a must in our line a work."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter grins sheepishly, "Yeah, I know, they're practically swords. But these days, I'm less of a ship builder and more of an adventurer. And when you want to stab a big, slimy monster, you want to stab it deep." He taps the hilt of his dagger. "So, I've swapped out for these beasties. And I like Nallissa at the Hi-Lo well enough, but I fear to ask her what she would want for a good knife."

[OGRE MAGE]

The men nod, then laugh at the comment about the prices at the Hi-Lo.

"Well, hopefully the only slimy monsters we see today are a couple of black tuna or a few big fat mackerel."

After about a half hour of steady rowing, Joe looks at Dexter again.

"Ye ready ta give these boys a break?"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Yessir, Joe," Dexter says. He swaps seats with the rower on his side and settles in. He knows his arms are shorter than Joe's but he counts on his strength and good health to make up the difference. He digs the oar into the water and starts pulling. He watches Joe for any change in direction or speed.

[OGRE MAGE]

Now facing the beach again, Dex can barely make out any torches flickering in the distant Beachtown.

He tries hard to keep up with the much taller human, who has been rowing boats most of his life. The task is not an easy one.

Can I get 3 Hard Str checks and 1 Normal Con check, please?

[SirOwen]

Well, not good, but not a universal failure!

Hard STR check vs 12 STR [4d6]=15
Hard STR check vs 12 STR [4d6]=10
Hard STR check vs 12 STR [4d6]=13

Normal CON check vs 16 CON [3d6]=12

[OGRE MAGE]

Initially, Dex has a hard time keeping up with the long strokes of the larger man on the other set of oars. The halfling struggles a little and starts to sweat profusely from the extremely heavy work.

Joe quickly notices that the boat is jerking badly, so he tries to compensate by adjusting his own strokes, eventually matching his smaller helper.

After a little time passes, the sky starts to lighten considerably with the rising of the sun. Dexter keeps chugging away at his oars, finally finding his groove and the ability to keep up.

When the sun peaks over the distant island, Dex is ready for a break, but Joe keeps him at the oars all the same, causing the halfling's steady routine to wane again slightly. This time he is forced to keep up, with no relenting from the other man. Dexter keeps at it with his usual halfling determination, even though he is slipping slightly. Now that he can see the expressions on their faces, all three of the men in the boat appear quite impressed with his ability, nodding their heads and slapping him on his back.

"Well, ye aint perfect, but you sure aint got no issues keeping up. I thought ye'd last about ten minutes, but ye just kept right on going. Pretty impressive. Now let the others sit down again so we can get out a bit further. We can start getting these nets ready ta drop while the others row fer a while."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dex slumps a bit as his turn at the oars ends. "Whoooo," is all he says. He rubs his arms and shoulders for a minute as he moves out of the other rowers way. Moving beside Joe and the nets, he says, "I've seen a lot of nets made. I could probably help with that, but I'm starting from scratch using them. What do I do?" He listens as Joe talks about the weights and the casting and drawing it back in. "Yeah... it sounds pretty simple the way you describe it. I'll bet it's a lot trickier actually ding it!" he finishes with a grin.

[SirOwen]

Oooooo.... so... would a Halfling's racial bonus with hurled weapons apply to casting a net? That might be useful.

[OGRE MAGE]

This is really more like dropping it over the side of the boat than "casting", so probably not.

Joe shows Dex how to slip the netting into the water without tangling it, and how far apart to attach the large cork floats to the main line that secures the entire net together. The bigger waves jostle the boat incessantly, but the modifications they made seem to be holding so far, enticing another slap on the back for the halfling.

Joe uses arm signals to coordinate with the other boat, now drifting further away so their nets wont get tangled together. The men at the oars continue propelling both boats out into deeper water.

"So Dex, how much deeper do ye think it is here? If we dont get nothin in this first run, we might need to sink the nets a bit deeper."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"How deep?" Dexter asks. "Sorry Joe, but I really can't say..... wait... how much rope do we have? I do remember the riverboat captains doing what they called a 'sounding'. They would drop a weighted line until it hit bottom. And when they pulled it up, they knew how deep the water is."

[OGRE MAGE]

Joe just smiles.

"I dont think we got enough rope fer that trick, Dex. She gets pretty deep this far out from shore."

"What we really need is fer a school a smaller bait fish to come along and tempt the biguns up from the depths."

"Ye got any way ta create something like that?"

The pair keeps talking as the rowers keep rowing out into deeper water.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Well," Dexter starts. "If it were still dark, I'd say use lights. But now, I'm not sure, unless we can bait the baitfish." Dexter pokes through his food bag, trying to figure out what would have the strongest smell once it got wet. "I've got a little bit of cheese and some dried bread. What's the smelliest thing you have to eat?"

[OGRE MAGE]

The three men chuckle at the idea of putting some smelly food in the water.

"Keep yer lunch fer yerself, Dex. I was talkin about something magical. Dont all you halflings have some magic tricks about ye? I heard that from somewhere once."